"Insecurity is kind of a deep sense of being unsure about your place in the world, your value, symptoms include self consciousness, a tendency to be very self critical, easily hurt" -Joseph Nowinski (Nope, I dont know who he is either)

(Note: the following has been ripped off from the net)

What is insecurity?

Insecurity is:

• Feeling of not being "good enough'' to meet the challenge of a situation you face in life.
• Sense of helplessness in the face of problems, conflict, or concerns.
• Belief that one is inadequate or incompetent to handle life's challenges.
• Fear of being discovered as inadequate, ill fitted, or unsuited to meet responsibilities at home, school, or on the job.
• Sense of not fitting in, being "out of synch'' with those in your peer group.
• Perception that life is unpredictable with most of the expectations you have to meet not clearly understood.
• Sense of always climbing up a mountain, never being able to reach the top.
• Sense of lacking support or reinforcement where you live, work, or play.
• Results from a sense of being unaccepted, disapproved, or rejected.
• Inner turmoil coming from a lack of direction or bewilderment as to where you are going, what your goals are, and what responses are appropriate for events in life.

Insecure people may have:

• Been raised in a chaotic, unpredictable, or volatile environment in which they were kept off balance, on guard, or on edge.
• Experienced a major tragedy or loss in their lives and are having a difficult time in accepting this loss and adjusting to the ``change.''
• Experienced a major "failure'' in life (e.g., divorce, losing a job, bankruptcy, failure in school, losing a friend, lack of acceptance into social or civic groups, etc.) that led them to question their personal competency.
• A poorly developed self-concept with low self-esteem, lacking belief in their personal goodness, skills, or abilities.
• Never felt accepted by the "others'' in their life, so much so that they became chronically shy, retiring, and withdrawn in their interactions.
• Had an unrealistic list of rules and expectations prescribed by significant others in their life, rules they are striving to meet even in their current life.
• A poor body image, making them believe that others see them in a negative light. This makes them self-conscious, tense, and anxious in dealing with others.
• Never received enough positive reinforcement or feedback from others about their talents and abilities, leaving them unclear as to their skills.
• Been given very little direction, guidance, or discipline in their earlier lives leaving them unable to cope with the current pressures of life.
• Always felt overshadowed or overlooked due to the people in their lives who seemed to be more successful, smarter, prettier, more handsome, more athletic, higher achievers, getting much attention. This can foster doubt in an insecure person's ability to gain recognition for their successes, and can make them doubt their ability to achieve success.
  

What do chronically insecure people believe?

• I can never accomplish the task facing me!
• Everybody is looking at me, just waiting for me to make a fool of myself!
• I am a failure!
• I am ugly and awful to look at!
• I can never win. I am a loser.
• What is the sense of trying, I'll never get it right!
• No matter how hard I work to achieve, I never get any recognition!
• I am incompetent in everything.
• How could anybody ever say anything good about me?
• I failed them in the past; therefore, I am a failure today!
• Once a failure, always a failure!
• There is only one direction for me to go in this organization and that is down and out!
• No one could ever like, respect, or accept me!
• I don't deserve to be treated nicely!
• I don't fit in here or anywhere else for that matter!
• Everyone else looks so good, so together; I feel so out of it compared to them!
• I am an incomplete person and will always be that way!
• I am so afraid that no one will like me!
• Why would anyone care to hear what I say, how I feel, or what I think?
• People are just nice to you in order to use you and get something they want from you!
  

Insecurity and self-consciousness are the bi-products of fear. Eliminate the fear and you eliminate all three.

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Now here comes the original stuff..

I think the older you get, the lamer you become. Replacing the "lamer you become" with "the trickier life becomes", gets pathetic sometimes. Hi, Euphemisms, thou art the simplest form of deceit.

I used to think that high expectations are fine. Okay no, wait. Before that. I hadn't a clue I secretly have ridiculously high expectations of everything (perhaps even everyone, or rather selective ones) till the day I got my O Levels results.

I'm beginning to comprehend now. Each and every little complexity that lies within, probably takes a lifetime (even that could be insufficient) to learn, but each little discovery certainly helps you no less. What sudden enlightenment, I know. Hey, you gotta have that strike of brilliance every once in a while, no?

"Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid." - John Keats